Patna: RJD leaders are upset with Tejashwi Prasad for being away from Patna on the day BJP national president Amit Shah was in town.
A senior RJD leader said that in Tejashwi's absence, the party lost a major opportunity to attack the BJP on Thursday. Many senior RJD leaders were in town but none of them issued any statement.
"The post Tejashwi holds is a big one. It seems he has failed to understand the value of his post," a senior leader and former MP told The Telegraph on condition of anonymity. "He is the voice of the Opposition and 81 MLAs. In the RJD, only two leaders - Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi - can issue statements that make a national impact. Lalu ji cannot issue statements under his bail condition. So, that leaves Tejashwi. But he was not around. On Thursday, Tejashwi could have raised the issue of Amit Shah's son Jay Amitbhai Shah, but nothing of the sort happened."
RJD sources said Tejashwi is out of the country (in Indonesia) and will return in the next 2-3 days.
"Our leader claims the RJD's direct fight is with the BJP and the JDU is nowhere in the scene," said an RJD spokesperson on condition of anonymity. "When the BJP's topmost leader is in town, he is in a different world altogether. We don't have a problem with his foreign trips, but timing is very important in politics. He was very much aware Shah was coming on July 12. He could have stayed back and attacked him left and right."
Another senior RJD leader, who holds a post in the party's national executive committee, said: " Senapati maidan-e-jung chor diye hai sipahiyon ke bharose (the commander has left the battleground at the mercy of soldiers)".
One RJD MLA pointed out that spokespersons like Mritunjay Tiwari and Shakti Singh Yadav, also an MLA, made no impact at the national level with their statements.
Leaders like Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Jagdanand Singh, chose to remain quiet. Sources said many senior leaders are hurt by Tej Pratap's statement at the RJD's foundation day on July 5, that he was the party's seniormost master on the dais.
